There is only one geothermal energy plant on Kilauea. I believe that enough electricity could be generated by an additional generator to support an efficient gasoline refinery. That refinery would be within reach of the most lucritive (North America) and the most inefficient (Chinese) consuming markets. Energy consumption of oil refining(kgce/t) Nation China 21.94 United States 19.46
The cost saving would be significant and an exploitable and renewable resouce would be online. The reason this island's energy is not already online is religious qualms about disturbing an iconic element -- Earth's heat. I say, we've already established what happens when a much larger religion is allowed to foolishly live in the 11th century; hence, dispensing with the oceanic myths should be of lesser effort than wooing the near east and of greater immediate benefit to, say, national interest.-- dpsyplc, May 19 2004 Questions about Geothermal Energy on Hawaii http://volcano.und....p5/question514.html [dpsyplc, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] Iceland's Hydrogen Generation Plant http://ask.slashdot...20227.shtml?tid=126Iceland is moving in this direction. [dpsyplc, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] Fenton Hill, New Mexico http://www.dhm.ch/imagF00Fenton.htmlHot dry rock technology --- "99% of the earth mass is hotter than 1'000°C and less than 1% is cooler than 100°C." [dpsyplc, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] Although that sounds like a good idea if you had extra energy, but your link says the geothermal plant only provides 20-25%.
Besides that, you're proposing to steal a resource from people that don't want you to have it. Because it's a religious reason isn't your business. People in our world do quite a lot of silly things for religion, but it's generally their right to. I'd argue that your perceived need for this refined oil is a religion, and one more harmfull to the earth and our future than theirs.
I do like the title though.-- Worldgineer, May 19 2004 Yo. I only mentioned the religious issue to save you the trouble of finding out on your own, like I'm sure you did with your religion.
Thanks for the vote.-- dpsyplc, May 19 2004 You focus on the need for electrical power to run an oil refinery and that is certainly true. The one 10 miles from my house uses about 20MW.
But refineries also have large demands for heat. This is in the form of low-grade steam to keep the heavy oils and asphalt flowing (150F, 200F, 250F); higher grade steam (500F+) to heat certain proceses up to where the chemistry starts to happen. And also there are some very high-temperature reactions going on which currently use eletrical heat or burn their own feedstock to acheive those temps. But geothermal over a volcano could provide many of those heat sources without using eletricity or burning fuel
I'm imagining at its most extreme, a very intregrated process where cold feed stock is preheated as it descends into the geothermal well (counter-current heat exchanger with the outcoming products) and at the bottom, at the hottest location, the reaction takes place in a reactor vessel (with or without catalysts, zeolytes, etc).
Much easier would all the distillation that takes place in a refinery. You're always separating lower bioing compounds from heavier stuff and you need heat and cold to do that. The heat could be geothermal and the cold can be ambient air/water. Again, with free heat, you can save the electricity or fuel that is usually used to do that. That means less $$ for electricity and more fuel that can be sold instead of burned in-house.
The Icelanders might be more game for this. They happily utilize their geothermal heat. The Hawaiians and the folks in Yellowstone preserve the area as a National Park which tends to prohibit industrial activities.
-David (studied Chemical Engineering, worked for oil companies for 20 years).-- DavidinKenai, Mar 09 2009 If you are going to build energy technology in Hawaii, start harvesting the (abandoned) sugarcane fields, put some big windmills on Maui and have them run an ethanol plant. The petrochemicals to make gasoline would have to be shipped in. Hawaii can make sugar just fine.-- bungston, Mar 09 2009 No-one done the Edison Arantes do Nascimento gag them?-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Mar 09 2009 random, halfbakery